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Video: Gas saving solutions (gizmo purports to double car mileage when traveling > 35mph)
ABC News ^ | 3/24/2008

Posted on 03/24/2008 5:45:29 AM PDT by Uncledave

No text to post - follow video.

The intriguing bit for me was the gent who invented a gizmo that he activates with a switch when he's traveling over 35 mph. He cuts the fuel to 1/2 the cylinders, and thereby increases his gas mileage to nearly double.

Obviously, passing power and hills would be more challenging with this activated, but can any engineering experts here comment if this is feasible and practical?


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: energy; gasoline
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1 posted on 03/24/2008 5:45:31 AM PDT by Uncledave
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To: RedStateRocker; Dementon; eraser2005; Calpernia; DTogo; Maelstrom; Yehuda; babble-on; ...
Renewable Energy Ping

Please Freep Mail me if you'd like on/off

2 posted on 03/24/2008 5:45:52 AM PDT by Uncledave
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To: Uncledave

GM has had this for years, I think they had problems with it the first time around, the devil is in the details.


3 posted on 03/24/2008 5:46:40 AM PDT by steve8714 (What hand does a Muslim amputee eat with?)
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To: Uncledave

He cuts the fuel to 1/2 the cylinders

This isn’t new. The Big 3 have been working on this for years.


4 posted on 03/24/2008 5:47:40 AM PDT by Brilliant
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To: Uncledave

Cadillac had the V-8-6-4 engine in the 80’s.......


5 posted on 03/24/2008 5:48:56 AM PDT by Red Badger ( We don't have science, but we do have consensus.......)
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To: Uncledave
Only one thing: Honda has this system available on their V-6 engines for at least three years. In fact, Honda updated their system for the 2008 model year so you have either six, four and three cylinder operation.
6 posted on 03/24/2008 5:49:44 AM PDT by RayChuang88
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To: Uncledave
If you simply cut the fuel to half the cylinders, those cylinders still have to suck in air, compress it, then expel the "exhaust", making this a fairly inefficient and simplistic solution.

There are several new cars out now which more efficiently cut off half their cylinders, including deactivating the valves so those cylinders won't have to compress the air.

Either way, I want no part of it. Try pulling half the spark plug wires off your engine and driving to work. See if that is satisfying.

No, I want no part of that malarkey, nor do I want a hybrid with expensive and complex electro-mechanical chicanery. Give me a small, efficient four-cylinder diesel that always fires all its cylinders and gets 50 MPG.

7 posted on 03/24/2008 5:50:09 AM PDT by Sender (Feltzqlna dads if mental our Prophet, Peace Be Upon Him)
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To: Uncledave

Car companies have been working on schemes like this for years, including the Caddy V8-6-4, which was a disaster. More modern versions seem to work a lot better.


8 posted on 03/24/2008 5:50:12 AM PDT by Jagman (Liberalism is a "progressive" disease)
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To: Uncledave
just put your feet through the floor boards and boost the power output. I've got this design I found in the "archives".

flinstone

9 posted on 03/24/2008 5:50:37 AM PDT by Dick Vomer (liberals suck....... but it depends on what your definition of the word "suck" is.,)
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To: Uncledave

The 2009 Camaro has this feature built in.


10 posted on 03/24/2008 5:50:53 AM PDT by Crazieman (Vaya van Juan McCain en 2008)
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To: Uncledave

Hell, I had a Jag that regularly ran on three cylinders. Don’t recall it helping the mileage any though...


11 posted on 03/24/2008 5:51:34 AM PDT by PLMerite ("Unarmed, one can only flee from Evil. But Evil isn't overcome by fleeing from it." Jeff Cooper)
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Hell, Dodge HEMI’s have been doing that for the last few years, it cuts back to 4 cylinders when cruising.


12 posted on 03/24/2008 5:51:35 AM PDT by gjones77
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To: Uncledave

I read not too long ago about a new experimental technology that allows conversion of heat directly into electricity.

It would be interesting, I think, if they were to apply that to the automobile. You could do away with the alternator, reduce the drag on the engine, and reduce the weight at the same time. Might also be able to reduce the size of the cooling system.

Unfortunately, the research is only in the “pure research” phase at this point. Probably by the time they get it ready for market, the gasoline powered engine will be extinct anyway.


13 posted on 03/24/2008 5:54:33 AM PDT by Brilliant
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To: Uncledave

Doesn’t the valet key for the Corvette do this by not allowing a parking valet to have use of all 8 cyclinders?


14 posted on 03/24/2008 5:55:41 AM PDT by LetsRok
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To: PLMerite
Hell, I had a Jag that regularly ran on three cylinders. Don’t recall it helping the mileage any though...

Oh Yeah! That was the one with Lucas Ignition.

The one with Smiths ran on four.

15 posted on 03/24/2008 5:55:49 AM PDT by Gorzaloon
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To: Red Badger
Wife had an 81 Seville, bought as a two year old car from the Caddy dealer in Mpls. The 8-6-4 feature was ruled by an electrical connection to the transmission, which the first owner had defeated.
Five years later when the tranny required service, the dealer plugged in the wiring and wife discovered how awful it was to herd a 5000 pound car on 4 cylinders.
16 posted on 03/24/2008 5:56:57 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (ENERGY CRISIS made in Washington D. C.)
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To: Uncledave

My 2007 GMC Sierra Crew Cab engine does this automatically. It senses when it needs HP and switches on the other 3 cylinders, or switches them off when it doesn’t need them. I find it looney that the media would consider this newsworthy since it has been around for a long time and now is virtually a standard on GMC trucks.


17 posted on 03/24/2008 5:58:00 AM PDT by HD1200
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To: Red Badger
Cadillac had the V-8-6-4 engine in the 80’s.......

Yeah, and we all remememer what a stunning advance that was.

There are some things Detroit should buy up and bury.

18 posted on 03/24/2008 6:00:04 AM PDT by the invisib1e hand (Free New York)
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To: Uncledave

Unlikely to double mileage. Making fewer cylinders work harder is more efficient than having more cylinders loafing - due to losses in heat energy and unburned fuel at the cylinder walls and heads of every cylinder which is working. These are marginal improvements, though, and only worthwhile to manufacturers who are doing everything they can to bump up their CAFE a mpg or two. Designing an engine with fewer cylinders to start with is even more efficient, because those cylinders that aren’t working are still generating frictional and pumping losses.

So yes, it does work in reducing fuel consumption, but not by anything like 50%


19 posted on 03/24/2008 6:00:49 AM PDT by -YYZ- (Strong like bull, smart like ox.)
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To: steve8714

My parents had a Caddy in the 80s that did this and it did not work. My wife’s 2007 Tahoe has this feature and it works great.


20 posted on 03/24/2008 6:01:55 AM PDT by jospehm20
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